Of science labs and Croatian cathedrals
by The Alloy of Silver and Gold
Summary: sequel to Ski resorts can be dangerous and last of the Cheetah Twins trilogy.   Enjoy!  was previously Back to the science lab of doom.
1. Chapter 1

The twins were very popular all of a sudden. Even the kids who hadn't gone on the ski trip noted the strange behavior of Claude Wellington and the other, normally bullying kids, and, to evade a beating, treated Alex and Alexandra with respect. Perhaps the fact that they seemed to have a retinue of muscular adults picking them up from school every day helped. Anyway, Alex and Alexandra Rider finally had a popular status.

Alex was doing algebra homework when the phone rang. Before he could get up, Alexandra was sliding down the stairs, calling over her shoulder, "I'll get it!"  
>There was a lot of mumbled garbling from the phone and a couple of incoherent, angry-sounding exclamations from Alexandra. There was the click of the phone coming down. Then Alexandra was thumping her way up the stairs. She knocked on Alex's door.<br>"Alex? It's from the bank. There's something important going on and they want us there. Where's Jack and Yassen?"

Jack scowled when she heard. "You shouldn't have to go, kids," she said. "Haven't Blunt and Jones put you through enough danger already?"  
>"Technically," objected Yassen. "Their last two…adventures weren't the work of MI6."<br>"But it does boil down to them."  
>"True."<br>"We have to go, Jack," sighed Alexandra. "I mean, they might come after you if we don't."  
>"They blackmailed me into missions," agreed Alex. "They can blackmail us into a meeting, as well.<br>"And anyway," said Alexandra. "We're just going to see Blunt, like we've done countless times. Our lives won't be in danger."  
>"Fine," sighed Jack reluctantly.<p>

Which is why, ten minutes later, the twins found themselves whirring towards Liverpool Street on the motorbike. As they pulled up by the bank door and Yassen locked up the motorbike, Alex noticed Mrs. Jones's pale face in the window. _It must be pretty important for her to look so worried, _he thought.

It wasn't so much important as urgent. "We have received intelligence from SatInt that Scorpia is planning something again," said Blunt. "We've just gotten new technology that gives the satellites x-ray capabilities. Zeljan Kurst and the other board members of Scorpia are building a large metal structure in Malagosto. We're not sure to what it is, but it's obvious it's for you. You've humiliated them three times. You won't get away with a fourth."  
>"And there have been slightly more… unsettling images." Mrs. Jones put three satellite photographs on the desk. "These were taken with extremely powerful satellite cameras and are of the science base in Zagreb, where Julius Grief was killed. They're below ground. Look closely."<br>Alex and Alexandra leant over the pictures and saw rough rectangles, with vague human shapes in them. Then Alexandra let out a gasp. She'd looked closely at the pictures, and made out the faint shapes of human bones.  
>"How do you know that this isn't just a picture of some graveyard the lab was built over?" demanded Alex.<br>"Because it was joined to the original building by a staircase. The remains of the building were investigated and there was a type of trapdoor. No one could open it so we examined the satellite images and found this," answered Mrs. Jones.  
>A statement like that left no room for argument.<p>

**Hey! Sorry for ending Ski resorts can be dangerous so abruptly, but I just really couldn't muster up another chapter. Review this one and I'll try to get chapter 2 up tomorrow! KEY WORD: TRY. I'm goin' a little psycho over homework. HOMEWORK IS EVIL.**


	2. Chapter 2

Jack fussed at the new threat. "They should be able to give us 24 hour protection," she complained.  
>"MI6 can't do much against Scorpia. To take any drastic action they'd have to get permission from a lot of people," explained Alex.<br>Jack face-planted into the sofa. It was her favorite way of expressing frustration.

The next day, the doorbell rang as they were getting ready for school.  
>Alex knew it had to be someone they knew, because the doorbell was fingerprint sensitive. if anyone who pressed it had their fingerprint programmed into the machine, it would make a different sound to if somebody normal pressed it.<br>Sure enough, K unit and Ben were at the doorstep.

"What amazes me," said Alex as he let them in, "is how often you get leave from the SAS."  
>"Oh, psh," said Snake. "All Ben has to do is flash his MI6 ID at them and we're free!"<br>"Anyway," said Ben. "We heard about the SatInt images of the underground crypt. We got clearance to check it out."  
>"We wanted to see if you wanted to come," said Eagle, bouncing up and down excitedly.<br>Alexandra raised an eyebrow. "You make it sound like a playdate."  
>"And anyway, if Blunt wanted us to go, wouldn't he have just asked us yesterday?" asked Alex.<br>"Blunt, well, he, uh…"  
>"He thought we'd say yes to you without a second thought." Alex shook his head. "Typical."<br>"Well, I was curious about the bones, but I didn't think we'd actually go…" Alexandra said thoughtfully.  
>"Don't you dare!" screeched Jack. "I won't have you risk your lives if you don't have to!"<br>"Oh, um… Blunt said if you didn't, he'd tweak Tom's parents' court case…"  
>Ben stopped talking and looked up. Both twins were doing their terrifying-cheetah-eyes face that could scare the living shit out of Zeljan Kurst himself.<br>"We're going, Jack," said Alexandra.  
>"And nothing you can do will stop us," added Alex.<p>

They called in to school. Alexandra – she was more comfortable with talking to people than Alex – called the front office and asked for Mr. Grey.  
>"We have to do something for MI6 – sorry? Oh yes. Can you explain to Miss Bedfordshire? Thanks. Bye."<br>She put the phone back down.  
>"He's worried. About us, I mean."<br>"He's a nice guy."  
>"Alex! Get your jacket! It's <em>cold<em> in Croatia this time of year!" Jack was running down the stairs.  
>Alex rolled his eyes.<p>

**Is this unrealistic? I have a truckload of HW to do so this is pretty quick. Review and tell me if I should change it. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

The flight to Zagreb was depressing. MI6 hadn't risked their top agent's lives. A government plane had picked them up at Heathrow and taken off within three minutes.  
>Alexandra had been disappointed at the lack of TV screens.<br>K unit, Ben and Yassen were silent for most of the flight, Ben and Yassen studying a blueprint of the ruins based on the SatInt images, Wolf polishing his gun, Snake checking the medical kit, and Eagle cradling an enormous canvas bag on the floor between his feet. When they were dropped off at Zagreb airport, the planes took off again immediately. They would come back the next day. Nothing was meant to go wrong.

The remains of the science base were still there, a bruise on the countryside. It had been overtaken with greenery in the few short months that Alexandra and Alex had left. The charred, blackened remains of the complex were overgrown with weeds and there was ivy snaking up the walls.

"According to the SatInt images, the entrance to the crypt should be over there," said Yassen, indicating the north corner of the ruined building.  
>"The agents who came before couldn't get in," said Alex. "How are we going to?"<br>"The other agents didn't have time or equipment," answered Wolf. "We do."  
>Eagle opened the large canvas bag and a hydraulic jackhammer appeared.<br>K unit, it seemed, was ready for anything.

When the jackhammer was switched on, the noise of the drilling lifted birds from the trees. It was deafening. Luckily, Snake had thought to bring earplugs, and in a few minutes, they had drilled a fair way down. "Man, this basement's deep," puffed Eagle, who had been operating the machine. The constant jarring up and down had turned his hair into a rat's nest and his face was red.  
>"Here, let me do it," Wolf reached for the jackhammer. Being more thickset than Eagle, he absorbed the shock of the sharp up and down movement better, and soon they had drilled through.<p>

Alex and Alexandra scraped away the last bits of concrete with their cheetah nails, making a neat round hole big enough for them to slip through. It was dark in the subterranean crypt. There were four concrete cuboids*, elongated cubes, the four rectangles Alex had seen in the SatInt X ray. The ones with skeletons inside them. Alex walked to one and Alexandra did the same. Digging his nails into the concrete, he found a barely detectible crack. The lid. It was so flush with the rest of the box that if Alex hadn't known better, he'd have thought they were just massive slabs of cement. He sensed K unit, Ben and Yassen dropping through the hole behind him. "Look, guys," Alexandra called. "There are clocks here." She indicated a digital display set in one side of the box she was examining. Alex looked at his. There was one there, as well. There was a row of four numbers. "Guys, I don't think this is just hours and minutes," he squinted. There were tiny letters printed on the clock by the sides of the numbers:  
>Yr, Mth, Day and Hrs.<br>Years, Months, Days and Hours.  
>As Alex watched, the hour number shifted from 6 to 7. "These have been here for years," said Yassen, looking at one of the cases. "Two have the same figures."<br>Alex bent to look at it. The case had been there for fourteen years.  
>That was when cold hands gripped his shoulders and a haggard face came into view.<p>

**It is a little fast, isn't it? I'll try to slow things down and explain things next chapter. My computer has these updates that keep popping up, and I clicked on one a few days ago, and my computer made a whole lot of noise, the screen went black, and it died. This computer was loaned to me by my school (school supplies the laptops and parents buy them so they've got I don't know how many of the same model in reserve) and my computer was sent to HP to see if they can fix it. Anyhoo, the internet on this one's shit but I don't know why since it should work the same as my other one but anyway, I'll be having trouble uploading chapters. Word works fine though :)**

***Cuboids are 3D rectangles. **


	4. Chapter 4

Alex barely had time to take in the pale, unkempt face and the silver scorpion gleaming at the throat before he was knocked to the floor. Yassen, who was nearest, pinned the attacker against the wall. Alex realized – Scorpia operatives must have been sealed inside the vault to guard it in case MI6 or any intelligence agency decided to investigate. Zeljan Kurst had obviously had something important inside those cases. More Scorpia operatives rushed out of nowhere. Alex caught a glimpse of a door closing – how could that be? No tunnels had shown up in the SatInt image – and something sharp was suddenly lodged in the side of his neck. His hand automatically went up to it. A dart. Alexandra had gotten the same. He saw her collapsing to her knees before he did too and everything went black.

He woke chained to a cold metal plate. Turning his head, he saw Alexandra fastened to another just as securely as he was. K unit, Ben and Yassen were as well. He felt horribly vulnerable, defenseless, chest towards the ceiling. Abruptly, the metal plates began to shudder and Alex realized that they were in a massive truck. "Guys?" he called.  
>"We're awake," grunted Wolf. "What happened?"<br>"There were Scorpia agents in the vault. They had dart guns."  
>"Why didn't they just kill us outright?"<br>"We don't know, Wolf."  
>"What's more worrying," said Yassen. "Is how they got the vehicle. They must have had a communication device."<br>"So by now all of Scorpia will know about us," groaned Alexandra.  
>The truck stopped.<br>A Scorpia agent came in and unchained them, one at a time. The shackles were left on their wrists. Alex looked up and saw that they were outside Zagreb Cathedral, the most famous building in Zagreb. Scorpia operatives shoved them inside.

Jack Starbright was worried. She always was when Alex and Alexandra were away from home, but this was Alexandra's first official mission. Jack was worrying herself crazy. "Well, they have faced worse," she said to herself, skipping up and down the stairs in anxiety. "Alexandra _has_ held off the entire task force of Scorpia for four hours straight. Alex _has _snowboarded down a mountain on an ironing board while being chased by machine gun maniacs. They _have _faced worse."  
>To take her mind off the twins, she flicked on the TV. The news was on.<br>"_The euro has been rapidly deteriorating –"  
><em>Boring. Jack flicked to CNN.  
>"<em>The multimillionaire Brendan Chase has just launched his Kaptol1 rocket in a generous donation to the Croatian government of a lunar satellite" <em>– satellite? Now _that_ was better. Jack relaxed into the sofa, some of her worry draining away.  
>Wait.<br>Croatia?

**Does this count as a cliffie? Also, those who've read Scorpia Rising will know who Brendan Chase is. I hope I spelt his name right. Does any of this make sense?**


	5. Chapter 5

Alexandra was severely pissed. She had just been shoved into a church in a foreign country filled with god-knows-how-many people, had no idea what was going to happen, and Scorpia were playing sickeningly dramatic tricks again. Alexandra hated not knowing things. Even when they had attacked before, all it had been were waves and waves of weaponry and brute force. All she had had to do was defend. This, however, was frustrating to the extreme. As if he had read her mind, Alex said from beside her, "Scorpia are practical. If anything's going to happen, it'll happen soon."  
>"I know, Alex," she said, kicking at a church pew. "But not knowing stuff is just so damn<em> annoying.<em>"  
>"When Julia Rothman was in charge, it was worse," piped up Yassen. "She was a melodramatic bitch. Alex did the world a favor when he dropped the hot air balloon on her,"<br>Alexandra raised her eyebrows at her brother. "You dropped a hot air balloon on Julia Rothman?"  
>"I'll tell you about it when we get out of here."<br>"Optimistic to the last."

At that moment, Zeljan Kurst was allowing himself a rare smile. "Everyone is in place?" he asked Dr. Three. "Yes, Zeljan," Dr. Three said, glancing at one of the screens hooked up to the surveillance cameras of the cathedral. "We've positioned the projector screen, if you and Mr. Chase would like to speak to the population of Zagreb."  
>"We would indeed." He took up a stance in front of a camera.<p>

Just then, inside the cathedral, an extremely large projector screen came rolling down. Alex whipped around. A light came on somewhere in the back rows, and a head and shoulders, bald, ugly, powerfully built and dressed in what looked like a velvet coat, appeared. K unit, Ben, Yassen and Alex all paled. All of them recognized him from the photographs MI6 had archived, and Yassen had once met him personally. Only Alexandra and the locals of Zagreb were unsure. "I will begin with introducing myself," said Zeljan Kurst emotionlessly. "I am Zeljan Kurst, the main founder of Scorpia. I must inform you, without much regret, that you will all die very shortly. My good friend Brendan here," – the camera swiveled and a blond man in an open-necked shirt came into view. – "posed as an obscure millionaire who has just launched the _Kaptol1_, the rocket that will cause the death of you all." Here he paused. "Alex and Alexandra Rider, I now speak directly to you. No doubt you are wondering why in Zagreb Cathedral, of all places, and what a rocket can do to anyone here, so far away in space. But do you, Alex, recall the Ark Angel project? The bomb that would bring millions of tons of steel and glass tumbling down on the Pentagon was concealed in a rocket. Much the same is going to happen now. Only this time, on a much larger scale. The entire moon will be destroyed. The rock shards will be brought by gravity down on Zagreb, killing everyone here. The tides of the oceans will be thrown off balance. Earth will no longer have a natural satellite*. And as for why in Zagreb: anyone involved with intelligence will know that I am Yugoslavian. And unless you haven't been paying attention in school, Croatia is part of Yugoslavia. I was born here, in the Croatian capital. And why may I seek to destroy my own birthplace, you may ask? It is that over the years, Zagreb, and indeed, the entire world, has been polluted. And by our very own world leaders. When old Croatia has been razed to the ground, I and the rest of Scorpia will build a new Croatia over the ruins. So you can see, I am doing this for the good of my own country. And of course, I will kill the Croatian authorities along with you. You have twelve hours until the moon moves into the critical position and the mayor arrives. You have twelve hours to live. Make it last."  
>The screen went black and the Croatians around them started expressing their terror.<p>

**I explained things! Was this unrealistic? I did the whole 'explaining thing' cuz I was thinking that Zeljan Kurst would think they don't want to die ignorant. I'm sorry about the wait for this chapter, but my school had sports day today and PE teachers were going hectic in the runup. Enough of my excuses. REVIEW! **

***the official term for 'moon' is satellite. and not the beeping metal contraptions.  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6

Scorpia hadn't assigned guards to the cathedral, and Alex knew why. They had nowhere to run. The cathedral in itself didn't matter. It was only the place where Kurst would be able to address them all. The entire country was under lockdown. As the terrified Croatians milled around the cathedral, Alex, Alexandra, K unit, Ben and Yassen were able to slip out and find a way back to the lab.

"So," said Wolf as they sat down on the concrete blocks. "We have twelve hours to live, huh?"  
>"We'll find a way out."<br>They sat in silence for a bit.  
>"Just out of curiosity," said Alexandra. "I think we should open the cases. I mean, we were going to when we were captured."<br>"Yes…" said Yassen slowly. "But we already know that there are humans in here, correct? I mean, we saw the SatInt images."  
>"But don't you want to see if they're really in there?" Alexandra persisted. Alex looked at his sister.<br>"Let's open them anyway. I want to see what's inside."  
>"It'll take a lot of work," warned Eagle. "Those lids look freakin' heavy."<br>"Do the SAS men doubt their own buffness?" Alex mock-gasped.  
>They took off the lid of the one Alexandra was sitting on.<br>A brown haired man was revealed, of a build extremely similar to Yassen's. The eyes were closed and the whole body was frozen in a block of ice, an oxygen mask over the nose and mouth. Alex again got the feeling of walking into a science-fiction movie. As Alex scraped some of the frost away from the top of the ice block, he noticed the man was wearing a slightly looser variation of the Scorpia  
>ninja uniform, but without the silver pin at the throat. Then he noticed that Yassen, standing beside him, was as frozen as the body in the concrete case. A worried glance flashed at the older spy revealed that the blue eyes were wide with shock, a condition they were not often in. "Yass?" Alex said tentatively. "What's wrong?"<br>By now the others had noticed as well.  
>Yassen was in no condition to answer.<p>

Blunt and Jones, meanwhile, had a distraught Jack Starbright sitting in front of them. "So, Miss Starbright, we don't know exactly what's happened in Zagreb, but as the MI6 aircrafts couldn't get into Croatian airspace, we conclude that Scorpia have managed to capture the Riders and the others and lock down the country."  
>"Why did you send them there anyway?" growled Jack. "Couldn't you have sent another agent?"<br>"The team we sent work together more efficiently than many of our other agents, Miss Starbright. There wasn't meant to be any danger," said Blunt smoothly.  
>"There wasn't meant to be," Jack almost shrieked, "But there is anyway! Now Alex and Alexandra have probably gone MIA because of you and taken K unit, Ben and Yassen along with them! Are you so heartless you'll condemn two <em>fourteen year olds<em> to death and not bat an eyelid over it? You sick son of a –"  
>"Miss Starbright, control yourself, please," interjected Mrs. Jones. Privately, she knew what the American was going through. She closed her eyes, and the faces of her lost children flashed before her.<p>

**I'm sorry this was so short, but I'm doing this quickly cuz I'm going to Canada for Christmas to visit relatives and we're in a flurry of packing. Plus we've got to put up the tree here because my dad's staying behind for work. We leave on the 18****th**** of December so if I can update between then and now I will. When we go I won't be able to update for about a month because we'll be staying at my grandparents and they won't have wifi because they're not too technologically advanced. Anyhoo, if I can update before I go, I will, but if I can't, leave a review for me to see when I get back! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm back! My Canadian holiday was GOOD! but I've got school tomorrow. I hate school, really I do. Here's the 7****th**** installment in Of science labs and Croatian cathedrals!**

Yassen seemed to be frozen, staring at the man in the ice block. "Yassen," said Alexandra, "what is it?"  
>Yassen chewed his lip. "Get him out of the ice,"<br>"What?"  
>"Do it now. Open the other cases as well."<br>Alex exchanged a puzzled look with Alexandra and started scraping away the ice, while K unit and Ben shifted the lids on the other cases, revealing more ice-clotted bodies: a woman and two men. On the last, when Ben saw the body, he first wiped away the frost on the surface of the block to get a better look at the man's face. When he was sure he wasn't mistaken, his eyes widened and he muttered, "Oh God… Alex?"  
>"Yeah?"<br>"Get over here."  
>Briefly abandoning his task, Alex went over to Ben. The first thing he registered was the clock. This person had been frozen for four months. At first he didn't recognize the face, but as he focused on the dark skin and hair…<br>"It's him, Alex," said Ben with uncharacteristic grimness. "It's the man I shot on Dragon Nine."  
>Ash.<p>

Zeljan Kurst was watching the moon. Not a favorite pastime, but now it was critical to the operation – the biggest since Invisible Sword – that they got their position right. Dr. Three was making final calculations and Brendan Chase was sitting in a corner, staring into space. "Dr. Three," Kurst said, removing his eye from the telescope. "The moon is almost in position. Five more hours should do it."  
>"Good. Very good."<br>Kurst felt a rush of excitement but suppressed it. Getting excited wouldn't do anyone any good.  
>"And after Croatia is dealt with, we can move on to the other countries of the world. China first – the government is crashing worse than here – and we can move on to Australia, England, etcetera."<br>"Scorpia will, quite literally, take over the world."

**Short, crappy ending, etc. but I'm jet lagged, cut me some slack. I'll try to get chapter 8 up tomorrow or day after. Can u guess who the first guy they uncovered was? Can u?  
>REVIEW!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

Alex's mind was reeling. Ash had been shot up and killed on Dragon Nine. Dragon Nine itself had nearly been rocked to pieces in the aftermath of the Royal Blue explosion. When he'd gathered his thoughts, Alex noticed Ben looking at him. "I want to know who he is, Alex. He's not nobody."  
>Alex sighed. "Ben, what good will it do?"<br>"Why are you so reluctant to tell me?"  
>The others watched this exchange with some bemusement.<br>Alex thought about it. Why _was_ he so reluctant to tell Ben who Ash was? Was it the flow of apology that would come? No. It wasn't that. He realized he didn't know why.  
>"He was my godfather. Happy?" Ben's eyes widened.<br>"Alex, I'm –"  
>"Don't tell me you're sorry. He killed my parents. He was their best friend –"<br>Alex was interrupted by the cracking of ice.  
>"That's it," came Alexandra's voice. "He's through."<br>The rest of them rushed over to the side of the concrete box. Alexandra had dug through the top layer of ice and now she and Yassen were warming off the frost that remained with their hands. The man's eyes remained closed for a few seconds before fluttering open, the exact shade of brown Alex's eyes had been before cheetah DNA streaked them gold. The man looked at them all, confused, but when his eyes landed on Yassen his brows furrowed in recognition. "Yassen?"  
>Alex had never heard Yassen's voice tremble before. It did now.<br>"John."

Alex's father sat up, slowly, like he'd almost forgotten how to do it. "Where are we? Who are you?" the last question was directed at K unit, Ben and the twins. "John," Yassen said quietly. "You've been asleep for fourteen years."  
>"T-that's not possible."<br>"Mr. Rider," interrupted Ben, "What's the last thing you remember?"  
>"Who are you?"<br>"I'm with MI6. Agent Daniels, code 567899."  
>"We were at the Coda airport, me and Helen – Helen! Where is she?"<br>Alex gestured wordlessly at the woman's concrete case. John looked at him curiously. "And who are you?"  
>"That is a <em>long<em> story. Let's get her out of the ice first."  
>Digging Helen Rider out of the ice took another five minutes, in which Yassen explained some of the current situation to John. When her eyes finally fluttered open, Alex and Alexandra helped her sit up.<br>"John?" her eyes were unfocused. "And – you're that boy he used to work with." Her eyes had landed on Yassen. "But…how old are you now?"  
>Yassen flicked an annoyed look at John. He shrugged. "I showed her your picture. Anyway, tell us who the kids are and –"<br>"John," interrupted Helen. "What happened to Alex?"  
>Alex gave a sheepish grin. "Here."<br>The recently freed adults stared.  
>"You can't be!" cried Helen. "Alex is only three weeks old!"<br>"Yassen told me I was asleep for fourteen years, Helen," said John, squinting at the clock on Helen's box. "And by the looks of it, so were you."  
>Helen got unsteadily out of the concrete box and stood in front of Alex. He was taller than she was.<br>"But your eyes have gold in them."  
>"Oh yeah… I was genetically bonded with a cheetah by Scorpia… That's where we got Alexandra. She's my twin sister."<br>"I don't remember having twins, said Helen faintly.  
>"You wouldn't, you had no idea what was happening," said John. "I was watching and that was almost worse."<br>"I'm Alex's artificial clone," supplied Alexandra helpfully. "Anyway, let's just dig out whoever's still in the ice and go, since Scorpia are going to blow up the moon in five hours."  
>"They're going to blow up the <em>moon<em>?"  
>"What's Scorpia?"<br>"That's another long story," said Alex, leaning over the case he hadn't yet looked into.  
>"Oh my <em>god it's Ian.<em>" 


	9. Chapter 9

Really, Alex shouldn't have been surprised. Dead people were popping back into his life at an alarming rate. John looked indignant. "Someone tried to kill my little brother?"  
>Yassen reddened ever so slightly.<br>"Yeah, he was shot –" here Alex flicked a tiny glare at Yassen, but his father didn't notice – "And I thought he was dead for the better part of a year now."  
>He and Alexandra attacked the ice without further ado.<br>Ian's awaking was similar to the other two's – confused expression, slow movements. The first person he saw was Alexandra. "Alex?"  
>"No, Alex is here." She dragged her brother into Ian's peripheral vision. John chose this moment to intrude.<br>"Hey, Ian?" Ian's eyes widened.  
>"Oh God, I'm dead."<br>"No. No, you are not. Now get your lazy butt out of that icebox, let's dig whoever's left out and get the hell outta here because Scorpia's going to blow up the moon in less than six hours"  
>Ian's eyes got bigger and he scrambled out of the ice block. He spotted Yassen. Yassen cringed.<br>"Yassen Gregorovich is _here_!"  
>"Stating the obvious, as usual," intoned John drily. Ian ignored him.<br>"Here!" he gasped, his hand reaching instinctively towards where he'd usually have a gun.  
>"Ian, it's ok. Yassen's on our side," said Helen.<br>"Our side, my arse. He shot me!"  
>Alex winced.<br>John turned on his former apprentice. "You _shot him?_"  
>Yassen developed a sudden interest in his combat boots.<br>"I may have possibly been charged with assassinating him."  
>John looked ready to kill. "You know, if it had been anyone else, I'd have strung their guts across half the country by now."<br>"Hey, I didn't know he was your brother until after **(AN: I don't know if this is strictly true, but just bear with me)** and I was still with Scorpia then!" protested Yassen. Alex grinned at seeing the lethal ex-assassin acting like a guilty child. "I had no idea you were a double agent! Plus, I was getting paid," he added as an afterthought.  
>"Back to Scorpia blowing up the moon?" prompted Alexandra.<br>"And by the way, who are you?" asked Ian.  
>"Alexandra Rider. I'm Alex's artificial clone."<br>"And what's with the eyes and nails?"  
>"Oh, we were infused with cheetah DNA."<br>"Well, that clears things up."  
><strong>I have a lot to talk about. Do you guys want me to bring Ash back? What should the reaction be if they do? I mean, he DID betray Alex's parents. Just to tell u, it is harder than it looks to incorporate huggy stuff into scenes like this. Anyhoo, I'm thinking about bringing Sabina in too. Maybe just a little bit at the end, but I want to bring her in somehow.<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

The grin faded from Alex's face as he remembered who was in the last case. The others, not knowing, made tracks towards it, though Ben flicked an apprehensive glance at Alex before following. Wolf was moving the lid. John's face didn't even twitch, but Helen's eyes widened. "It's Ash!"  
>"I noticed, dear."<br>"What –"  
>"We'll dig him out."<br>Alexandra darted forward, claws ready, but Alex said quickly, "Don't."  
>"Why not?"<br>Alex shut his eyes and poured out the story.  
>"Ash was burned because of the fiasco in Malta. You know that. He went to Scorpia. To prove himself to Julia Rothman, he blew up the plane he thought you were on –"<br>"The decoy plane."  
>"Right. Anyway, he was shot a few months ago in Indonesia. I was on a mission for the ASIS. I didn't find out about him until I thought he died. He betrayed you." Alex opened his eyes. "We can't bring him back." John was pinching the bridge of his nose and Helen's hands were over her mouth.<br>"I believe you."  
>"John! How can –"<br>"It sounds exactly like the type of thing Ash would do. After he was burned, he didn't have any reason to be loyal to MI6 any more. I believe you."  
>"So we don't bring him back," said Wolf. "What do you think's through there?" He pointed at the tunnel the Scorpia operatives had come through when he they were attacked.<br>"Let`s find out."

The room through the tunnel was cavernous and there were steps leading down from the door. The ceiling was on level with the other room, but the floor was much lower. It was littered with cages, stacked in their hundreds. The largest were at the bottom. Small ones were at the top. From his point at the top of the staircase, Alex could see an extremely strange bird in one of the small cages at about eye level. The feathers were the iridescent blues, greens and golds of a peacock, but the bird itself was the size and shape of a sparrow. The beak was hooked like an eagle's and shone metallically. The bird eyeballed Alex with one large, intelligent black eye, and appeared to smile.  
>"Oh, my God," muttered Snake as they walked down the stairs. "They must have been testing the genetic fusing on animals before moving to humans."<br>"That's right."  
>Snake whipped around. "Wolf, did you say that?"<br>"No."  
>"Up here." Their eyes followed the stack of cages to one of the medium sized ones at a little above head height. A taloned paw waved at them from between the bars. A lion's head appeared above it. Alex looked at it, then at the others. Wolf was doing a remarkable impression of a fish.<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I've sick with writer's block and life in general! Sorry if anything is not accurate here, it's been a while since I read the earlier chapters.**

"Well, don't just stand there gaping," said the lion-thing. "Get us out of these _fucking _cages!"  
>Eagle had found his voice. "What are you?"<br>"A genetic hybrid of falcon and cheetah. Scorpia operated on my vocal cords and brain, yes I can speak, and can you please shut your faces and try to look vaguely intelligent?"  
>"Bu-but you look like a lion!"<br>"Not the issue."  
>Alex started sawing at the padlock and before long, the door swung open. In one graceful leap, the animal landed on the floor next to them. Alex saw that it was, indeed, a cheetah. What they had taken for the lion's mane was actually the feathers of two falcon-wings that had been bent forward.<br>"Thanks," said the cheetah, stretching. "Now, free the others."  
>"Not til you tell us why you can talk," said John.<br>"I explained, didn't I? My brain and vocal cords were operated on. Most of us can talk. I understand English, Slovakian, Arabic, Spanish –"  
>"Get to the point!"<br>"Well, Scorpia wanted an army of genetically modified humans, and the scientists worked out a theory they tested on different animals. Along the way, they decided an arsenal of genetically modified super animals would be nice too. They took DNA from me, my mate, and some of the others in here as well, I'm assuming for the human tests."  
>Alex suddenly realized that this was probably the cheetah his DNA had come from. The cheetah continued.<br>"We'll explain more later. My mate is in one of the cages in that corner. Please get her out." A touch of desperation entered his voice as he indicated the far right corner of the storage crypt. So they went through the towers of cages, unlocking the lower ones, and some of the higher ones as well. Soon they had a retinue of extremely odd animals following them. An owl with its feet replaced with steel. A bloodhound with a beak. They came to a cage with another cheetah inside, this time with six-inch fangs that folded back and a snake's tail replacing her own. At the sight of the male, she leapt at the bars, staring longingly. Alexandra tugged off the lock and the female jumped forward onto her mate, rubbing her perfect golden fur against his, purring ecstatically. The human cheetahs moved onto the other cages. After a good ten minutes, all of the animals were free, and the stacks and stacks of cages pushed together in one corner.  
>"So I hope you know Scorpia's plan," said Alex, rubbing iron filings out of his nails.<br>"Oh sure," said the peacock-like bird he'd seen before. "Those idiots would yammer at us like there was no tomorrow. I guess the only people they can gloat at are prisoners. So we've got to stop them."  
>"And now we have a small army of genetically modified animals to help us do it. Do you have names?"<br>"Not to the Scorpia operatives we don't. But we named ourselves. We can tell you on the way up."

**Pathetically short for a week-long effort, I know. Blame Key of Awesome. But I seem to have overcome my writer's block, at least partly. Anybody got any good cheetah names? Or maybe a rule I can name them all to?**


	12. PIPA

Copied and pasted from lunalovegood134's VOTE AGAINST PIPA! SAVE TWILIGHT!

I did not write this. But I totally agree with it.

Okay, so there's this bill called PIPA and it will take away this site! It will burn it in hell and nobody wants that! So, vote against! Vote against I say! Here are the details!

This content has been found in violation of H.R. 3261 S.O.P.A. and has been removed.-

Every story on this site if SOPA and PIPA pass Congress.

So, there's a bill in Congress called PIPA.

If passed (and at this rate, they'll probably be), they would let the government basically go apeshit on internet content and censor it.

This means that would be completely and utterly SHUT DOWN.

This congressional jackassery will commence on January 24th! If you wish to preserve not only this site, but your liberty, call your state senators! I'll just leave this list of their phone numbers at the bottom.

Think, guys- is over TWO MILLION MEMBERS strong! If we all called up these guys, then there would be absolutely NO WAY THIS MALARKEY WOULD SQUEEZE THROUGH THE GOVERNMENT'S ASSCHEEKS!

So call your senators today and tell them to vote against PIPA! We can do this! If you see this, put something in a new chapter of an existing story! Spread the word!

AK, Lisa Murkowski, 907-456-0233

AL, Jefferson Sessions, 334-244-7017

AL, Richard Shelby, 205-759-5047

AR, John Boozman, 479-725-0400

AR, Mark Pryor, 501-324-6336

AZ, Jon Kyl, 602-840-1891

AZ, John McCain, 602-952-2410

CA, Barbara Boxer, 510-286-8537

CA, Dianne Feinstein, 415-393-0707

CO, Michael Bennet, 303-455-7600

CT, Richard Blumenthal, 860-258-6940

CT, Joseph Lieberman, 860-549-8463

DE, Thomas Carper, 302-573-6291

DE, Chris Coons, 302-573-6345

FL, Bill Nelson, 407-872-7161

FL, Marco Rubio, 305-418-8553

GA, C. Saxby Chambliss, 770-763-9090

GA, John Isakson, 770-661-0999

HI, Daniel Akaka, 808-522-8970

HI, Daniel Inouye, 808-541-2542

IA, Charles Grassley, 515-288-1145

IA, Thomas Harkin, 515-284-4574

ID, Michael Crapo, 208-334-1776

ID, James Risch, 208-342-7985

IL, Richard Durbin, 312-353-4952

IL, Mark Kirk, 312-886-3506

IN, Daniel Coats, 317-554-0750

IN, Richard Lugar, 317-226-5555

KS, Pat Roberts, 913-451-9343

KY, Mitch McConnell, 502-582-6304

KY, Rob Portman, 361-576-1231

LA, Mary Landrieu, 225-389-0395

LA, David Vitter, 337-262-6898

MA, Scott Brown, 617-565-3170

MA, John Kerry, 617-565-8519

MD, Barbara Mikulski, 410-962-4510

ME, Susan Collins, 207-945-0417

ME, Olympia Snowe, 207-874-0883

MI, Carl Levin, 313-226-6020

MI, Debbie Stabenow, 517-203-1760

MN, Al Franken, 651-221-1016

MN, Amy Klobuchar, 612-727-5220

MO, Roy Blunt, 816-471-7141

MO, Claire McCaskill, 816-421-1639

MS, Thad Cochran, 601-965-4459

MS, Roger Wicker, 601-965-4644

MT, Max Baucus, 406-657-6790

MT, Jon Tester, 406-449-5401

NC, Richard Burr, 910-251-1058

NC, Kay Hagan, 336-333-5311

ND, Kent Conrad, 701-258-4648

ND, John Hoeven, 701-250-4618

NE, Mike Johanns, 308-632-6032

NE, E. Benjamin Nelson, 402-441-4600

NH, Kelly Ayotte, 603-622-7979

NH, Jeanne Shaheen, 603-647-7500

NJ, Frank Lautenberg, 973-639-8700

NJ, Robert Menendez, 973-645-3030

NM, Jeff Bingaman, 505-346-6601

NM, Tom Udall, 505-346-6791

NV, Dean Heller, 775-686-5770

NV, Harry Reid, 702-388-5020

NY, Kirsten Gillibrand, 212-688-6262

NY, Charles Schumer, 212-486-4430

OH, Sherrod Brown, 216-522-7272

OK, James Inhofe, 918-748-5111

OK, Tom Coburn, 918-581-7651

OR, Jeffery Merkley, 503-326-3386

PA, Robert Casey, 570-941-0930

PA, Pat Toomey, 610-434-1444

RI, John Reed, 401-943-3100

RI, Sheldon Whitehouse, 401-453-5294

SC, Jim DeMint, 864-233-5366

SC, Lindsey Graham, 864-250-1417

SD, Tim Johnson, 414-276-7282

SD, John Thune, 605-334-9596

TN, Lamar Alexander, 615-736-5129

TN, Bob Corker, 423-756-2757

TX, John Cornyn, 512-469-6034

TX, Kay Hutchison, 214-361-3500

UT, Orrin Hatch, 801-524-4380

UT, Mike Lee, 801-524-5933

VA, Mark Warner, 804-775-2314

VA, James Webb, 804-771-2221

VT, Patrick Leahy, 802-863-2525

VT, Bernard Sanders, 802-862-0697

WA, Patty Murray, 206-553-5545

WI, Ron Johnson, 605-332-8896

WI, Herbert Kohl, 414-297-4451

WV, Joe Manchin, 304-342-5855

WV, John Rockefeller, 304-347-5372

WY, John Barrasso, 307-261-6413

WY, Michael Enzi, 307-682-6268

This is no joke people! Vote against to save this lovely place!


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